Pete Nelson
Pete Nelson
AgLaunch Initiative
Website
Pete Nelson is the President of AgLaunch Initiative, which is a nonprofit organization building a new commercialization model to support Climate-Smart innovations that put farmers at the center. Mr. Nelson is focused on building a robust agricultural economy that values nutrient dense crops, carbon neutral (maybe even negative) farms, and equitable supply chains. AgLaunch partners with Ag Ventures Alliance, an Iowa-based farmer cooperative, to implement a for-profit farmer network with membership across the United States. AgLaunch Farmers, LLC incubates nascent agtech companies and develops new value-added products leveraging field trials, data, and customer feedback. In its first three years of operation, AgLaunch portfolio companies created over 300 living wage jobs, raised over $100MM in venture capital and $20MM in non-diluted funding to support sustainable agriculture technologies to benefit farmers. His current role leading AgLaunch is a culmination of 25 years of farm-focused work in sustainable agriculture, alternative crops, bioenergy, plant biotechnology, and equitable innovation in the sector. Mr. Nelson has provided expert testimony to the US House Small Business Committee’s Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy and Trade; co-edited and co-authored Plant Biomass Conversion published by Wiley & Co.; co-founded the first agtech accelerator and first exclusively ag-focused early-stage VC fund in the US; and co-founded the Biobased Manufacturers Association, a trade association that was instrumental in paving the way for the USDA Biopreferred program.
Briefly describe your work with agtech and explain what motivates you to invest your time in this work.
AgLaunch’s theory of change is that we will have less commodities in the future in the US and more specialty crops with branded products grown with rigorous sustainability standards and owned by farmers. Working through a network of farmers we are launching new agtech startups to help farmers where they are now but be part of the bridge (network effect, data, enabling tools, returns) to the future.
Briefly explain any commitments to sustainability that you or your organization bring to your work on agtech innovation. Be as specific as possible regarding what kinds of social and environmental impacts you aim to produce, and the relevant strategies you are pursuing.
If we have not moved the needle on nutrient dense foods, carbon negative farms, and equitable ownership across the supply chain then the work we have done on the investment and startup/agtech front will be considered a failure even if successful for investors, founders, and large ag companies. Specifically this means ownership in startups and markets by a diverse group of individuals and a commitment towards measuring sustainability (loaded term we can discuss) as a market differentiator.
Briefly describe the way(s) in which you assess/measure social and environmental impact in your work on agtech innovation.
We are still working on this trying to connect GHG emission reductions to the use of our startups as an example. For now we are measuring historically underserved farmers, demographics of portfolio founders, and related data.
Our research and this workshop aim to investigate tensions between the demands/imperatives of the tech-finance industry and the demands/imperatives of social-environmental problem solving. Please comment on this problem frame in general, and in relation to specific examples from your own experience.
This tension is setting the stage for the realization that there will be new emerging models of funding, alignment, and ways of measuring success in the agtech industry that stretch the boundaries of both groups. For example investments in startups might be tied more to managing risk from climate change (protecting other assets) than a direct ROI from the investment. This is an excellent conversation.
To investigate the tensions suggested above, we rely on the concept of “mission drift”. We understand mission drift as a tendency for social and environmental impact commitments of individuals and organizations to leak out over time due to pressures and opportunities to expand revenue, valuation and capital gains. Our project aims to investigate mission drift applied to entrepreneurial ventures as well as to organizations dedicated to supporting innovation. Please comment on this thesis in general, and in relation to specific things you have experienced where possible. To the extent you find this thesis useful, what strategies can you identify to defend against mission drift?
This is a great question and discussion point. The only strategies we are employing now is aligning interests that drive accountability, governance, and building scalable infrastructure that can help change the game.
Please share something you would like to take away from the workshop.
Ideas on how to measure impact, how we benchmark with others, and new network partners that think similarly.